posted may30, 2006
"
Tolling is always more expensive than our existing fuel
taxation." "Why would it be better for us to pay this or even a
higher cost
per
mile for our roads and then send the "toll/ tax" to a foreign
investment consortium?"
Privatized Tolling of our Nation's Roads is Bad Policy
by John L. Smith, Director of COUNT US!
http://www.i69tour.org
Last week former Bush Budget Director Mitch Daniels,
now
Governor of Indiana, returned to Washington DC to tout the virtues of
his 75 year lease of the Indiana Toll Road to foreign consortiums.
Congress Transportation Committee member, Rep. Peter
DeFazio asked
a some tough questions of Indiana's Governor regarding the
wisdom of Daniels' moves to privatized and toll more and more roads of
the USA to foreign consortiums. We wish we could have given
DeFazio
some more ammo.
Roads privatized, run strictly with a profit motive, as "tolled luxury
routes" is the problem. So is the guarantee of profits to those
who buy
these trade/ transportation routes for an aging mode of
travel. So is
the duration of these "agreements".
Looking back, the first auto was built about the same number of years
ago that these leases will run out in the future. Can we imagine
the
"trucks and cars" of 100 years from now? Will they still be the
major
transportation mode? Will rubber tires still prevail? Ride
on a silky
smooth 150 MPH train in Japan or Europe compared to our nation's rubber
tired trams at airports and resorts ...you will strongly question
the
future of our
current autos and trucks.
Transportation corridors are a valuable
resource, not easily duplicated.
Duplication is further complicated as Governor Daniels "Major Moves"
legislation in Indiana, guarantees by "moral obligation" that Hoosiers
will make up any difference in road use profits should autos decline on
the Indiana Toll road. This will slow or stop the adaptation of
transportation in our nation and reduce route and vehicle efficiency
improvements. By binding contract with international consortiums,
the
state of Indiana is not
allowed to provide "competing" infrastructure. Is this any way to
plan
for the future?
Tolling... a 5¢ per mile toll is a $1.00 per gallon ADDITIONAL tax
to a
car that gets 20 miles per gallon. If you get 40 MPG, then it is
a
$2.00 per gallon tax on top of the existing fuel taxes. Drive a Hummer
or a Hybrid, it makes no difference. Those promoting Privatized
tolling see per mile charges twice that high as soon common.
There is only one reason to pay a toll over taking a free route... that
is "luxury". Toll routes must be under-capacity and force
competing
routes to be less efficient, to be worth their charges. Tolling
is not
inherently bad, but done only to profit sections of independently owned
roads is no way to forego planning and encumber a national
transportation system.
Privatized tolling by international consortiums will only serve to
drain our economy of money that could circulate in the USA for the
duration of these 50, 75 and 100 year contracts while making our road
system's parts compete rather than work together. This taxation
provides no
motivation to help move our USA auto makers build cars that might sell
in nations with higher price fuels, much less even our own country.
Under the privateer tolling model, road building projects, like the
Trans Texas Corridor and I-69 from Mexico
to Canada will be built with USA taxpayers borrowed money at low
interest rates, loaned to foreign consortiums and then they will take
all the profits from their guaranteed profitable agreements for the
next one-half, or one-full century. The latest Federal
Highway
Administration funding bill
has many new motivations including Private Activity Bonds (PAB) and
"Tolling and Pricing" programs for privatization and tolling of our
nations existing and planned new
road infrastructure. This is bad policy!
This disconnection of road taxation from fuel taxes is the brain child
of the road building industry. By contractually private toll
taxation
of
geographic populations for five to ten decades at several times the
normal fuel tax rate, it has been determined now that legislators can
avoid
public pressure.
State wide or nationally, the public will object to a 3¢ per
gallon gas
tax
increase, but toll some tens-of-thousand people and their decedents who
will not be
born yet for another 50 or 75 years and you hear a lot less
objection.
Proponents of this privatized tolling promote up to 10¢ per mile
tolls. That is $4.00 per gallon on top of any fuel tax for a 40
MPG
hybrid. (The math is simple, pay 10¢ per mile and any car
has spent
$4.00 more in forty miles.)
USA road builders get a quick influx of cash for already existing roads
privatized this way. See the details of Daniel's sale of the
Indiana
Toll Road. If the mature road industry still needs "growth
capital",
we would be
far better off with a higher fuel tax that would encourage increased
fuel efficiency. It should be noted that all places in the USA
can now
be accessed, the growth of this industry even without rising oil prices
would be slowing. In the USA, all fuel taxes only go to
roads. A
strong argument can
be made that this industry is contracting our country into long term
agreements that should not be made at a time that transportation seems
to be on the cusp of a major change.
Many nations use higher gas taxes to effect social policy, the way we
use our cigarette taxation, but they direct the proceeds to social
programs other than roads like universal paid health insurance.
Our
auto
industry could benefit from both a domestic demand for higher mileage
vehicles and a release from the need to provide USA workers private
health care coverage. A fuel tax providing broader social benefits
could likely provide a healthier auto industry and keep dollars
circulating within our boarders. Higher cost per mile travel will
reduce mobility while providing inflationary pressures on the cost of
goods transported. At least with a fuel tax, improved vehicles
with
greater miles per gallon efficiency can offset the increases. This
provides benefits to peak oil, air quality, without giving up mobility
and inflation if technology can keep up with taxation.
Tolling is always more expensive than our existing fuel taxation.
Why
would it be better for us to pay a higher cost per mile for our roads
with no incentive for improved fuel economy and then send the "toll/
tax"
to a foreign investment consortium for five to ten decades?
Canada has been threaten with E.U. (European Union) sanctions for
trying to get out of
their Toll Privatization nightmare with the same company that Daniels
has contracted with: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_407
For more specifics about what is wrong with Daniels' "Major
Moves"
plan: http://www.i69tour.org/IFA_comments.html
and http://www.i69tour.org/majormoves.html
For a portal into the Boondoggle NAFTA I-69 project see: http://www.i69tour.org/maps.html
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